OCSA Blog

June OCSA Champion: Dr. Rosemary LoGiudice

OCSA is incredibly proud to have Dr. Rosemary LoGiudice as the One Health Champion for the month of June. Dr. LoGiudice has been a huge supporter of OCSA’s mission and has also become a great friend of ours. We truly admire her talent and the impact she has had on the veterinary and One Health Community and we are grateful that she took the time to sit down with us to answer a few questions surrounding her business, Integrative Pet Care, and the One Health Initiative.

OCSA:​Can you tell us about your work at Integrative Pet Care?Rosemary LoGiudice: Integrative Pet Care is a physical rehabilitation and integrative veterinary medical center with locations in Chicago, Hanover Park, and Homer Glen, dedicated exclusively to the physical rehabilitative therapy, fitness, and holistic wellness needs of dogs and cats. I am a partner in the Chicago and Hanover Park facilities. I see patients at the Hanover Park location. My passion is for veterinary medical physical rehabilitation and fitness and conditioning. I have been fortunate in experiencing many aspects of the veterinary profession, but trying to figure out how to improve the physical mobility and quality of life of dogs, cats and horses really excites me. {I see horses through my separate practice, Animal Rehabilitation and Therapy (ART)].

Integrating physical therapies (such as therapeutic exercises), and other rehabilitative modalities as well as manual therapies (such as veterinary spinal manipulative therapy and acupuncture) and working in conjunction with a pet’s primary care veterinarian as part of the pet’s health care team to help provide the best possible quality of life is truly exciting.

​OCSA:​Is there one particular pet that “touched your heart” a bit more than others?RLG: Each patient is important to me and I tend to become personally involved with each of them. One dog, early in the rehabilitation and integrative medicine chapter of my veterinary career taught me a lot about what can be done in addition to “traditional” veterinary medicine. Oliver was a wonderfully happy and active pointer who experienced hind limb paralysis and underwent spinal surgery. His owners were dedicated to doing whatever could be done to help Oliver regain the best possible mobility. I got to work with Oliver every week for more than 3 years, and watched him steadily improve his ability to walk, then run, then jump and play unassisted. He spurred me to seek out post-graduate functional neurology education and taught me how perseverance can pay off in huge gains and that if you keep working with a pet, they will often respond by continuing to steadily improve and regain more and more mobility. He seemed to LOVE coming for therapy and his owners and I became friends, as well – the human-animal bond encompasses a lot.

OCSA: Can you tell us why you are also known as “Dr Comanche?”​RLG: Dr. Comanche comes from when I was an actively flying pilot – my plane was a Piper Comanche (aka: Herbi) – it just worked to use the Dr for being a veterinarian and Comanche for my passion of flying, without seeming to be pretentious about either!

OCSA: What has been one of the most memorable or rewarding experiences since being involved with the One Health Initiative?RLG: Within a few months of learning about OCSA, a friend mentioned that she was tired, bloated and just didn’t feel right. Because of what I learned from OCSA about Ovarian Cancer symptoms, I mentioned it to her and she went to her doctor. At first her doctor thought it was “just fatigue”, but my friend mentioned ovarian cancer – long story short, 5.5 years later, she is a cancer survivor. It just reinforces my personal motto that “knowledge is power.”

OCSA: What are some achievements you’d like to see accomplished for the One Health Initiative within the next few years?RLG: I would love to see the Student AVMA become aware of OCSA and become an active advocate for veterinary awareness of Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness. If veterinary students become aware and active in the cause, it can provide for a huge grass-roots veterinary involvement.